


smuggled from gamestop

by totalgoesonao3



Category: HLVRAI - Fandom, Half-Life VR but the AI is Self-Aware - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Pre-Canon, background characters are infinitely based, friend josh of course, friend josh whos the cashier..., josh is so tired from having two jobs at once please let him rest, not joshua, or giving them personalities, you cannot stop me from writing them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-05
Updated: 2020-06-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 20:54:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24551932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/totalgoesonao3/pseuds/totalgoesonao3
Summary: Josh and Benry discuss their plans for tomorrow.Surely, everything should go exactly as they plan... right?
Kudos: 21





	smuggled from gamestop

The dim light slowly fades from the windows of Black Mesa, a reminder of despair, a loss of hope, or something like that.  
Or, for any normal person, a time to go home and relax.  
This is when shifts end and begin, when workers leave and arrive, and during this strange moment in-between, all is calm.  
Something much-needed in a place such as Black Mesa.  
At the entrance, the hallway goes on for a bit before turning, the chatter of scientists and rumbling of machines easily heard from even there.  
Security guards roam the area as well, paying extra attention to the entrance.  
Tomorrow is a very important day, after all, and today has nearly reached its end.  
Along the hallway leads to the lockers, with the seemingly endless amount of Coomer clone lockers, and just a few outliers.  
From that hallway, come all the other rooms, chambers, and other relatively important parts of Black Mesa, so big that it’d leave the newest employees confused endlessly.  
Somewhat near the entrance, on a turn, a security guard stays leaning against the wall, staring down at the ground with hazy eyes.  
From any passing scientist, tester, Powerade manufacturer, or otherwise in-between, it’s a normal sight.  
They’d have to get a bit too close to realize that he isn’t even breathing.  
The guard stares at the ground, unmoving, completely disassociated from the world around him.  
He doesn’t even notice the security guard walking by him, just gotten off his shift.  
The security guard slows his walk, turns his head slowly, and examines the man against the wall.  
His gaze twists into something a bit disgusted, perhaps paranoid that the thing is going to look right back him, and he steadily continues on his way out.  
The man pays no attention.  
Another security guard walks by, and like the previous one, he’s off his shift too.  
However, his gaze passing by is not one of fear or dread.  
It’s of relief, a spark of joy.  
He stops his path and walks up to the man at the wall, smiling and attempting to give eye contact even though his eyes are too tired to look all the way up there.  
The man must be at least a foot taller than him, or a few inches, it’s impossible to tell for sure.  
“Hey, chief!”  
“I was lookin’ for ya!”  
The now-titled security chief against the wall slowly pans his gaze to look at the security guard in front of him.  
“oh hey”  
“hey”  
“my friend of”  
“of josh”  
“Yeah, Benry, it’s me!”  
“Usually you’re a bit further down there.”  
“Thought’cha got lost ‘r som’n.”  
“But, I understand.”  
Josh lowers his volume down to a whisper, as if he only wanted Benry to hear him.  
“ _They’re callin’ ya Boper back there._ ”  
“benry”  
“Yeah, I know, right?”  
“Not respectin’ they chief, aren’t they?”  
“Hey, don’t let ‘em get to ya.”  
“I think we all got a little bit of weird in us, an’ for some it’s a bit more apparent, but…”  
“I think we should embrace that weirdness, y’know?”  
“Fuck ‘em.”  
“Tomorrow’s a very special day, after all.”  
He puts a delicate hand on Benry’s shoulder, and pats it a little, with no response from Benry whatsoever.  
“Hey, look man, I know tomorrow’s ya last day of Playstation Plus.”  
“We’re gonna make that day last, aight?”  
“oh yeah man”  
“we’re gonna”  
“play mag or”  
“heavenly”  
“heavenly sword with the new dlc or smthn”  
“get king of the hill gamemode with the”  
“gold heavenly sword premium UNLOCK”  
“Exactly, man, it’s gon’ be the shit.”  
His voice hushes again, and his grip tightens on Benry’s shoulder as if to display urgency.  
“Now, listen carefully, ‘cause this is important, I tellin’ ya this before…”  
“Tomorrow, I don’t gotta work at GameStop, I can just get in an’ outta there.”  
“I gonna be workin’ in the Back again, an’ I know that’s a bit far from here, but I’m gon’ be okay, trust me.”  
“Ya just gotta wait for me, is that clear, Benry?”  
“yeah sure thats”  
“wait why are you working in the back”  
“thats”  
“thats not a good”  
“place”  
“Ya ordered me to work back there.”  
“huh wha”  
“where am i”  
“who are you”  
“Look, ya just gotta wait for me to come over here, aight?”  
“Once I get to ya, we’ll leave together, head over to GameStop, an’ I’ll be in an’ outta there with Heavenly Sword.”  
His hand steadily releases itself from Benry’s shoulder, and moves to leaning against the wall, Josh’s lack of sleep becoming much more apparent, as most of his body weight slumps into his arm.  
“We go t’ my place, an’ it’ll be the last day of Plus well-spent.”  
“yea sounds cool”  
“Also, ya may have heard…”  
“Someone’s doing a test tomorrow, a really important test.”  
“I’m just gon’ tell ya that everything’s gon’ go just fine.”  
“There’s been a lotta panic goin’ around about the machines makin’ weird noises ‘r whatever, but trust me when I say the chances of som’n goin’ wrong are real slim.”  
“who is”  
“what is coming”  
“who is that”  
“Oh, his name is uh…”  
“Think it was Gordon Freeman?”  
“Yeah, he’s gon’ come in wearing a big orange suit, lookin’ like a big macho man.”  
“I heard ‘im complain about the possible safety risks a few days back, but he clearly don’t know what he’s talkin’ about.”  
“From what I’ve heard from the other security guards, he doesn’t do a _lick_ of work ‘round here!”  
“huh”  
“chicken head”  
Josh suddenly gives a few bursts of muffled laughter, and leans against the wall more, smiling a bit.  
“Y’know… y’know what’d be the _funniest_ thing…?”  
“What if Mr. Freeman over here got a… _dick slip?_ ”  
He wheezes out laughing, body giving away and causing him to lean fully on the wall beside him.  
He shakes a little, the world getting a bit dizzy as he struggles to breathe.  
“ _Yeah, man, like his HEV suit didn’t quite come together all the way, an’ he got a dick slip…_ ”  
Another wheeze comes, before Josh pauses to take in air.  
“aw no, man”  
“do the”  
“air thing”  
Benry’s voice has a sliver of worry, unusual for him.  
“ _Don’t worry, I’m fine…_ ”  
“ _Haven’t got the best sleep lately…_ ”  
“Hey, if Mr. Freeman actually gets a dick slip, go stop ‘im an’ tell ‘im t’ put his dick back in.”  
“That’s all, though, don’t go off followin’ ‘im around.”  
“Don’t wanna get lost, or we ain’t gon’ meet up on time.”  
“An’ _no_ askin’ ‘im about his passport ‘r whatever either!”  
“He works here.”  
“Don’t forget that, okay?”  
“yea sure”  
“yea ill go”  
“hey”  
“yo dick out”  
“Yeah, just like that.”  
“...It was good talkin’, but I gotta get a move on.”  
“Got some paperwork to do.”  
“Don’t forget, _okay?_ ”  
“yea- no sure i wont”  
Josh slowly moves off the wall, and looks down, moving his leg just to check if he can maintain his balance.  
“I’ll see ya, chief.”  
He nods to Benry in recognition, and Benry stares at him for a few seconds, expression unchanging, before he does a quick, subtle nod of his own.  
And, with that, his friend leaves.  
“...”  
“bye”  
But no one is there to hear him.  
It’s late.  
He should get going, too.  
Benry presses against the wall behind him, until he sinks a bit, and waits until no one is within his line of sight before fully clipping into the wall.  
He’ll be going home.


End file.
